Three lines of research on infant imitation are proposed. In the first, deferred imitation is used to probe infants' memory for novel actions performed by an adult model. Experiments ask, for example, how early can infants engage in deferred imitation of novel acts, over what delays can infants remember novel acts, and how is information about novel acts forgotten over the course of a week. In the second line of research, behavioral reenactment (a new paradigm which involves infants' imitation of an action a model attempted but failed to complete) is used to explore infants' understanding of the goals that underlie others' actions. Experiments test, for example, how early can infants engage in behavioral reenactment, what additional evidence is there that infants view failed attempts as goal-directed, and under what conditions do infants view ambiguous acts as goal-directed failed attempts. The third line of research focuses on facial imitation, and explores what changes occur with age in infants' imitation of facial gestures.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37HD022514-14
Application #
6182013
Study Section
Human Development and Aging Subcommittee 3 (HUD)
Program Officer
Feerick, Margaret M
Project Start
1998-08-01
Project End
2003-07-31
Budget Start
2000-08-01
Budget End
2001-07-31
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$237,413
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
135646524
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Repacholi, Betty M; Meltzoff, Andrew N; Rowe, Hillary et al. (2014) Infant, Control Thyself: Infants' Integration of Multiple Social Cues to Regulate Their Imitative Behavior. Cogn Dev 32:46-57
Zack, Elizabeth; Gerhardstein, Peter; Meltzoff, Andrew N et al. (2013) 15-month-olds' transfer of learning between touch screen and real-world displays: language cues and cognitive loads. Scand J Psychol 54:20-5
Loucks, Jeff; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2013) Goals influence memory and imitation for dynamic human action in 36-month-old children. Scand J Psychol 54:41-50
Meltzoff, Andrew N; Waismeyer, Anna; Gopnik, Alison (2012) Learning about causes from people: observational causal learning in 24-month-old infants. Dev Psychol 48:1215-28
Marshall, Peter J; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2011) Neural mirroring systems: exploring the EEG ? rhythm in human infancy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 1:110-23
Marshall, Peter J; Young, Thomas; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2011) Neural correlates of action observation and execution in 14-month-old infants: an event-related EEG desynchronization study. Dev Sci 14:474-80
Williamson, Rebecca A; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2011) Own and Others' Prior Experiences Influence Children's Imitation of Causal Acts. Cogn Dev 26:260-268
Bonawitz, Elizabeth Baraff; Ferranti, Darlene; Saxe, Rebecca et al. (2010) Just do it? Investigating the gap between prediction and action in toddlers' causal inferences. Cognition 115:104-17
Williamson, Rebecca A; Jaswal, Vikram K; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2010) Learning the rules: observation and imitation of a sorting strategy by 36-month-old children. Dev Psychol 46:57-65
Meltzoff, Andrew N; Kuhl, Patricia K; Movellan, Javier et al. (2009) Foundations for a new science of learning. Science 325:284-8

Showing the most recent 10 out of 43 publications